Earlier this month, Watermans ambassador Lewis Benson took part in a special training camp with his management team MGM in Marbella. During his two weeks kept an exclusive training diary – read Week 2 below…
Monday
New week, back to the hard stuff.
First session was slightly later today than usual. Ronnie, Chris from the GB squad, and myself all started sparring at around 2 o’clock. After the 6 rounds of sparring, my back was getting stiffer. I felt that yesterday’s massage had done more damage than good. After the sparring I went to see the physio to try and sort my back out. After stretching, he gave me some cream which I found to really help rid the pain! At night I did a lot more stretching, followed by shadowboxing and further bag work. After training I got a text from Anton, asking if I would be willing to spar and train with Paulie Malignalli. My obvious answer was yes! He is a legend in the boxing world. I was so buzzing and I went to bed with a smile on my face.
Tuesday
I woke up very happy, knowing that I was sparring with Paulie today. We arrived at the track for 8, and I started by doing some 4 X 800m. I recorded times of between 2:45 – 2:55, slightly slower than last week, but still room to improve. Later in the day, we went to the gym for 6. I really wanted to impress so I got a great warm up in early. I had to spar with Paulie second, so I just watched Tommy (English Champion) during his first round bout with another competitor first. I was really nervous. It was a full gym and I wanted to show everyone just how good I can be. When my turn came around, I went and boxed out my skin for 3 rounds. Everyone was shocked at how well I imposed myself. I think even Paulie was shocked and surprised at how well I performed. I earned Paulie’s respect and he was full of compliments about my boxing skills. His coach and manager said they could see me going very far in boxing. That type of comment meant a lot to me!
Afterwards I gave Paulie one of my tops to keep and we got a picture of us both wearing it. He signed my gloves for me and wrote ‘Kid Caramel: Future World Champion’ on it! I went to bed a happy man that night.
Wednesday
No run this morning. I arrived at the gym for 11 for a gym workout session, 4 rounds of shadowboxing and then 6 rounds on the bags. The hard session of the day was in the evening. It was another session with Taff – these are the hardest. The session was centred around increasing strength work. Afterwards, I felt sick and could not eat. I went upstairs after and had a baked potato for dinner. Taff had worked me through the ringer!
Thursday
Woke up early for track this morning. I was looking to up my training to 6 rounds on the track. I recorded good times on the circuits – achieving between 2:40 – 2:50. I was really happy with both my times and my fitness! I then rested until 5 for sparring. I only achieved 4 rounds today as I was feeling really tired and I noticed my sharpness was not all there. I was nearing the end of my training and it was beginning to show. However, all this hard training I have been working on is stored away in the tank! At night I just packed and got ready to leave in the morning.
Friday
I woke up nice and early to go for my last beach run. We ran for 50 minutes today. I ran alongside fellow boxers, Jamie and Peter. We had a good laugh and spoke about boxing through the entire run. I really look up to both fighters and they help me a lot! Afterwards, I got myself showered and was ready to leave for 11.30am. I said my goodbyes and my thankyous to my management team – Daniel and Anton, before getting dropped off at the airport, ready for my flight home. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and having a nice Nandos tonight!
Summary:
I was gutted it was time to come home, but at the same time I was buzzing to get back into Lochend to train with Terry for my 2nd and 3rd pro fight. You are going to see an even better Kid caramel in my next outing! I live for boxing and I will do whatever it takes to get to the top! I would like to say a massive thankyou to Watermans for making this trip possible. Without them, this trip could not have been possible. They are the best support I could ever have asked for!